Home Depot Fires 70-Year-Old Veteran For Confronting Shoplifters

A 70-year-old veteran, who worked at a Home Depot in Texas, is out of job after trying to stop thieves from leaving the store.

It seems what he saw as doing the right thing was against company policy.

Jim Tinney's years in the Army taught him the importance of speaking up when necessary.

A few weeks back Tinney saw three nervous men carrying tool sets worth thousands of dollars to the checkout. "And they all grabbed their kits and started heading out".

KTRK reports that Tinney lost his job after throwing a paint roller extension at their feet in an attempt to stop them, even though the robbers weren't injured. "I just automatically... threw the stick at their feet".

Tinney said that the store training says not to confront shoplifters, but that his reaction was just a reflex.

"I think they could have written me up and reprimanded me".

The men got away but two weeks later when he thought it was over, he was sacked. Tinney says he's having trouble getting a new job, "I'm 70 years old". I need to work, and I needed that job.

Home Depot's Director of Corporate Communications Stephen Holmes also released a statement regarding the incident, saying that their department store has a very strict policy that should be observed by their security staff when dealing with shoplifters. I enjoyed working with customers, helping figuring out what they wanted to do. "It's fun." It's a tough lesson for a man who has been around the world serving his country that serving the company he works for might mean holding off on what seems like a good deed. Last week, we had an associate bitten. We've had stabbings, another associate with serious brain damage, and it goes on from there, ' Holmes added.